Massive evacuation as millions hit by India floods
PATNA: More than 300,000 people trapped in India's worst
floods in 50 years have been rescued but nearly double that number
remain stranded without food or water, officials said Saturday.
About 60 people have died and three million people have been affected
since the Kosi river breached its banks earlier this month on the border
with Nepal and changed course, swamping hundreds of villages in eastern
Bihar state. Another 300,000 people have fled their homes and are living
in government relief shelters, temples and high-rise government
buildings. "Large-scale evacuation will continue 'til all the marooned
people are rescued in the next three to four days," disaster management
official Prataya Amrit told AFP.
The government said the situation was unlikely to return to normal
for months and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) voiced fears
about illnesses breaking out at congested relief camps.
"We will have to provide food and shelter to the survivors until
October as they will not be able to return home," the state's disaster
management minister Nitish Mishra told AFP.
The government has set up more than 100 shelters, but officials said
nearly 600,000 people were still waiting to be rescued.
The floods have caused extensive damage and disruption to roads,
water and electricity supplies in the affected areas, UNICEF said.
"Essential commodities including food are now being transported by
boat," the UN body said in a statement. Tens of thousands of people have
been displaced in Nepal, where thousands of Indians seeking shelter from
floods in Bihar have also migrated. At least 15 people died and some
were still missing after an army rescue boat carrying flood survivors
capsized on Friday.
Soldiers were facing problems tracing possible survivors because of
strong currents, disaster management official R.K Singh said.
A family trapped on a tractor for several days made desperate pleas
to be rescued as flood waters rose steadily around them, the Indian
Express newspaper reported. AFP |
